Christmas work for St Catherine divisions

Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer

SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:

SEVERAL PROJECTS will be undertaken throughout the 40 parish council divisions in St Catherine during the Yuletide season.

Councillor for the Above Rocks division, Judith Marriott, told The Gleaner that approximately $750,000 would be spent in her division, and that approximately 200 persons would benefit directly from Christmas projects.

"For Christmas, we will be doing bushing of roadways and clearing of drains and cutting of overhangs. The main project is the Harkers Hall Cemetery," Marriott said.

She said residents in her division looked forward to the Christmas programme.

"What we are paying them is not much. It's like part volunteer and part payment because some persons have been doing it voluntarily throughout the year, so you know at Christmas you look for those persons first," the councillor said.

Guy's Hill spend

In the meantime, Winston Chambers, councillor for the Guy's Hill division, told The Gleaner that $1.7 million is expected to be spent on projects throughout his area.

"The major work to be carried out is bushing on the major thoroughfare leading from Linstead to Guy's Hill, and we will also be doing drain cleaning along the Guy's Hill main road, because when you have heavy rain, we also have problems with the drains, and also debris," Chambers said. He told The Gleaner that 300 community members would get temporary employment.

Christmas projects will also be undertaken in the Ewarton division. Councillor Beverly Grant-Jobson said $600,000 would come from Member of Parliament Robert Pickersgill's Constituency Develop-ment Fund (CDF).

"That will be used to bush overgrowth, overhanging shrubs, and also the whitewashing of walls from Border to Ewarton town centre, the cleaning and landscaping of the Bramwell Clarke Park and its environs, placing of park benches, and constructing pathways," Jobson-Grant said.

Roadside maintenance

At the same time, the St Catherine Parish Council has approved $300,000 for the cutting down of overgrown vegetation and the cleaning of curbs and channels in some of the main parish council roads in the division.

Additionally, $100,000 has been awarded under the prime minister's Christmas fund to clean two of the major drains in the town and on Clarke's Avenue.

In the Homestead division, approximately 300 persons should gain temporary work as Councillor Owen Palmer told The Gleaner that the St Catherine Parish Council would be spending $400,000 in his division.

While not able to give a specific amount, he said an additional sum would come from Olivia Grange, member of parliament for Central St Catherine's CDF.

Each council division in Portmore has been allocated $450,000 to undertake Christmas projects.